Intended as Mandan's second community center, the World War Memorial Building was constructed for $125,000 (about $3,008,000 in 2025 dollars). At its dedication, North Dakota Supreme Court Justice A. M. Christianson called it "a living memorial, a daily tribute to our men who gave their lives in the great World War."
The three-story, 121-by-130-foot structure included a 60-by-104-foot second-floor auditorium seating 3,000, with two balconies, a full stage, and stage lighting. It could serve as a basketball court or dance floor. A lower-level auditorium included showers and dressing rooms for athletics and drama. The building also provided an American Legion room and meeting rooms for organizations such as the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts.
Its 75-by-35-foot swimming pool was then North Dakota's largest pool and its only municipally owned indoor pool. The depth ranged from 2½ to 8 feet, and a wading pool occupied one corner. The building's poured-concrete Art Deco design and brick veneer were popular for public buildings of the 1920s and 1930s.
A 1,290-pound block of Indiana limestone above the second-story window bears the reverse-relief inscription "World War Memorial." It originally stood above a central south window measuring 7 by 14 feet.
Construction began in 1932 during the Great Depression with federal funding. The first floor and indoor pool opened in October 1934 during a four-day celebration attended by more than 4,000 people from Mandan and Bismarck. Events included musical entertainment by the Mandan Men’s Chorus and the high school orchestra, swimming and diving contests, lifesaving demonstrations, water stunts, a carnival, and a bathing-suit fashion show.
Construction resumed in January 1936 with $34,000 for the second- and third-floor interiors, stage, dressing rooms, and basketball floor. The building was formally dedicated in September 1936 and completed in 1937.
After the Morton County Courthouse burned in 1941, the Memorial Building housed county offices and courts until a new courthouse opened in 1956. It also served as headquarters for Company A, 131st Engineer Combat Battalion, North Dakota National Guard, until a new armory was built.
The public library moved into a southeast room in March 1939 under a 99-year, rent-free lease. Library funds paid utilities, and the facility was required to open at least two nights weekly and provide a free reading room. The county library remained until 2008, when it merged with the Mandan City Library in the former Northern Pacific freight house.
Later air-conditioning work removed several south windows and replaced the others. The building is one of five area public projects honoring World War I service members, along with the Liberty Memorial Bridge, Memorial Highway, the Liberty Memorial Building, and Bismarck's World War Memorial Building.
The building later housed Mandan's administrative offices. Its water department occupied space above the former pool, which was filled during the late 1960s after persistent treatment-system problems. A larger outdoor pool south of Custer Elementary School replaced it.